Can you recommend mail order catalogs and internet stores that you like? Is there a company you regret buying from?

I have shopped at Lands' End for years and have had pretty good luck with them. The worst thing I can say about them is a few buttons have fallen off and had to be sewn back on.

I recently ordered business cards from iPRINT.com. The business cards were shoddy quality so I'm sending them back and asking them to reprint. They say satisfaction guaranteed, but it's a pain to have to ship the cards back and wait for them to be reprinted.

We have been buying clothing from Lands' End and grocery items from Foreign Buyers Club. Both are fairly good. The only exceptions are that sometimes the description on LE clothing doesnt match the article received and the cost of sending it back can be expensive. We recently has a parcel returned to us by the US Postal Service saying that they couldn't find LE's address!!?? So we had to pay postage twice! It nearly wasn't worth it. So be sure you really want the item otherwise the cost of returning it can add up.

FBC is very good for dry goods such as cereals, which our kids consume by the bucket load. Some other sepcialty items can be found for the same price, without delivery costs, at foreign food supermarkets. Delivery costs are very reasonable. Definately worth a trial order.

i highly recommend hanna andersson clothing. the web address is hannaandersson.com. their clothes are expensive but incredibly well made and very durable. plus, they take their used clothing back to donate to the needy. have not had anything shipped directly to japan, but they say they do it.

I'm seriously considering buying a stroller from the US
from one of the on-line companies that offer baby products. Has anyone ever tried this before, and how much extra was shipping, and import duties?
The Japanese strollers handles are much too low for me!

I have news for you! The US strollers have very low handles also. I am 5'10" and was unhappy with strollers from any point on earth, until I found some expensive but infinitely helpful "handle extenders". They cost about $17 at a specialized baby goods store in the USA. I still need them for the umbrella stroller that we use when we go on trips. But I have a Graco heavy duty blue and white stroller for sale if you are interested, for JY10,000. (03) 3944-9611 P.S. There was one Aprica model (Jan 1997) that had an extension capacity of about 4cm built in. This was totally inadequate.

On strollers: I bought a Baby Jogger Zipper last time I was in the US and brought it with us back to Tokyo. Lately, I heard that Baby Jogger now has a distributor in Japan. Reason I mention this is the air valve on the tires of our jogger are made for US standard air pumps and do not fit Japanese pumps. I'm not sure if they've fixed the ones they distribute here or not. They must have found some sort of workaround.�@�@The longer I live here the more I think it's better to try and find Japanese equivalents to what I want. Sometimes this isn't possible, but it's getting easier and easier. I like the zipper but I find myself using our Combi Slim Up (folds up extremely small) much more often. This might not be true if we lived somewhere less crowded.

When I started breastfeeding I ordered a lot of stuff from Motherwear. Their t-shirts fit ok but I found them too hot to bear in the Tokyo summer. I ended up just hiking my regular t-shirts up when I needed to breastfeed. I was unhappy with the dresses I ordered from them because the sizing was so erratic. I ordered the same size of t-shirts and dresses, the dresses were way too big and the t-shirts fit ok. Maybe they've improved their sizing in the last couple of years - not sure.

We buy from Michael Olaf's essential Montessori for kid's educational needs -great product and service. Hearthsong has great toys but I've found their overseas customer service a bit lacking. maybe it'll improve now they're on the internet.

I have bought from Lands End (sturdy), Hanna (a bit expensive but cute) and Motherwear for clothes. Motherwear's winter separates were great, and the summer camisoles and denim crop I love..but the postage is huge and then if you return something it really adds up. They have petite sizes on a few items now. One hot mama has been recommended to me for nursing clothes too.

Hi, I've ordered books and videos from Amazon.com quite a few times, and they have really good service, and if there is some problem, you can send an e-mail to their "orders" e-mail address, and they respond right away.
I have ordered specialty books, and specialty exercise videos, which are unavailable in Japan, and even normal books like cooking books that are double or triple the price here. Even with shipping costs added to the price, it is still cheaper if you order from them than buying it here.
When I want to order something, I also ask my friends if there's anything they want to order, and we go in on the shipping costs together, and it's worked out quite well.
The only pain is that if you choose the cheapest shipping option, it takes so long for the books to come, they say from 8-12 weeks, and my books came in about a month and a half. If you choose DHL Worldmail shipping, it is more expensive, but the stuff comes in about a week to ten days, and the most expensive shipping comes in a few days, so it is really convenient if you are desperate for something!

I'm buying books from Skysoft bookstore.
http://www.sky.co.jp/welcomeE.asp
Good thing about them is that though they do not discount, they don't charge you the shipping cost, and if the book is in their stock yard, you can get it really quick. Another thing is you can recieve the books in BunkyoDo bookshops or Asahiya Shoten by cash, so you don't have to register the credit card numbers. They also deliver to you for a 380 yen extra charge.

I am looking for a book club to enroll my son in. We
used to get a book each month from Easy Reader but
cannot find this club anywhere now. My son is in the
second grade at Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ)
and needs a little bit more enthusiasm about reading
in English. Getting his own book in the mail would be
just the th

Hear is a secret way to save money on those great hannah anderson clothes that I found out by accident. If you get the catalog here in japan, you also are getting special prices, that is, things go on sale first here, and sometimes only here. I have now twice ordered sale items from the catalog, had them sent to the address where my next trip to the states will be and saved alot. The catalog in the states and on-line (in english) had no mention of these sale items (in the japanese catalog). I have saved money and also cut down on luggage, at least one way. Try it if you really love HA like I do but think its too expensive.

Check out the mail order catalogue at www.sumisho-otto.com.jp and eddie bauer.

Children clothes mail order catalogue go to http://www.cecile.co.jp
catalogue name Angelet.Or you can call and ask for a free catalogue from Aikku baby telephone no.03-3935-3111 tokyo
free dial 0120-350-540.Includes products for rent or sale.

SCOOTER WALLY'S CHILDREN'S CLOTHES at http://www2.gol.com/users/lea/

It's a new on-line children's clothing store that's very close to being operational.

It's run by a Canadian woman who has lived in Japan for 8 years. The focus is quality clothing at a fair price to customers.

The clothes you see at the website are already here in Japan.

You'll need to email scooterwally@postmark.net for the prices as that information has not yet been posted on the site. Here's the URL again:

http://www2.gol.com/users/lea/

My 4 year-old received a gorgeous outfit from a friend who went to Australia last month. I love the material and colors are so vivid. Does anyone know of any catalog companies from Australia that ship to Japan? I�ve ordered tons from American companies but now I want something a little different from the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. Besides the US exchange rate now doesn't make it worth buying from the US.

Natalie: I wonder if you mean "Run Scotty Run" in Australia? They're the number # one children's designer clothing from down under. You can buy the clothes here in Japan....and you're right ! the quality re: the colours and fabric are phenominal. Here's the URL for "Run Scotty Run" in Japan.

http://www2.gol.com/users/lea/

Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - 07:57 am:
sorry! the new address for "Run Scotty Run" australian children's clothing in Japan is:

http://www.scooterwally.com

and their email address is: scooterwally@yahoo.com

Here's a good place to visit to buy furniture and anything else for the home and the garden: www.homedirect.co.jp
Their products are outstanding and really cheap. The website and the catalog are in Japanese only but there are lots of pictures.

Hi all,
Just want to share a neatly designed website and good resource if you are looking looking for parts for older Macs and PC's at reasonable prices.

I just purchased English keyboards to replace the Japanese ones for my MacPowerbook 500 and 5300 and also found a replacement for my broken trackpad clicker.

It's called Junkyardjeff and is run by Jeffrey Garbacz out of Seattle. He was prompt to respond to my email requests and took an internationl money order as payment.

Check him out at http://www.junkyardjeff.com

I usually order from La Redoute (mostly children and adult clothes, but they also have shoes, small appliances, bedsheets...).
It's a French mail order business, but they ship non bulky items worldwide. They have a website in French
(http://www.laredoute.fr). They can mail their big catalogue for free, as well as international selling conditions in English.
International conditions are quite good : the delivery cost is 30 FRF (about 500 yen) + 15% of the invoice (I think it's up to 20% this year). But as Japan is outside the EEC, you get a 17% tax rebate off the catalogue price, so you end up paying almost the same price as French people ordering in France.

Re: Suggested posting by Cornelia Kurz

Hello,

We are a Brisbane, Australia, based etailer/retailer of Nursery furniture & baby products.
Several recent customers of ours, based in Tokyo, who have been involved in your group recommended that we contact you to inform you of our web based resource for expectant parents, as it might be useful to your members.

We deliver all our Australian Standards Approved products to Tokyo within 2-5 days of availability at very reasonable shipping rates, this according to our customers who live in Tokyo.

I welcome you to visit our site, at http://www.cotsgalore.com.au
If you find this resource informative & sufficiently worthwhile, we would also consider a presentation to one of your scheduled group meetings.
Enquiries can be made directly to me via email or phone.

Yours sincerely,

Phillip McBride
Managing Director
Cots Galore
http://www.cotsgalore.com.au

Scooter Wally's Children Clothing in Japan

We've really smartened up regarding importing to Japan. The result is clothing that's 20-30 % less than last year !

The quality is still phenomenal, the colours are just as brilliant, and the designs are as unique as ever...but the prices are way, way down !

Check it out at... www.scooterwally.com

I explained earlier that I usually order kids clothes from La Redoute. So far, catalogue and website were only in French, but they just started to have them in English. Selling conditions seem to be the same as before.
On the website, the English versions seem to be for England and US only, but they do deliver in Japan (they've just mailed me their English catalogue).
http://www.redoute.com/

Natalie,
I tried ordering a catalogue from La Redoute but got stuck at postal code. How did you get past this?

Thanks.

I remember this happened to me also. So I eventually called them and ordered the catalogue by phone. I think they asked me to fax my address, and I remember I had to shorten it as it was way too long for their input screen ! They told me that if I wanted to order it through the website, I had to put a dummy postal code and put a comment with the real code in some 'additional information' zone or something like that. It was easier by phone.
At that time, they used to mail the catalogue for free (by surface mail though, so it took ages). Recently I asked them to send it to a friend and they said they charge 50 FRF (the Euro equivalent).

Catalogue shopping is convenient but why not order kid's clothing right here in Japan?
Scooter Wally has outstanding quality...the clothes are from Australia...and even better it's all marked down to 40-50% off !

http://home.catv-yokohama.ne.jp/zz/scooter/email.html

Hello,
Has anyone ordered from "Companykids.com" for international delivery? Can you let me know the details? (They are an off shoot of The Company Store -- thecompanystore.com -- based in Wisconsin.)

Started your Xmas shopping yet?
I tend to use online shopping more and more as I can deliver it straight to the homes of my loved ones overseas. They seem to enjoy items from the US as well, as they have gotten rather non-plussed by Japanese products over the years here. Many US catalogs ship internationally as well.

As such, I wanted to tell you about an online-directory of catalogs brought to you by (who else) Google. They scanned the entire contents of some 1,500 paper (hard copy) catalogs into their archives, and you can search for items from all catalogs, or seach by catalog category. URLs are also provided.

The URL for Google Catalogs is: http://catalogs.google.com/

I can also recommend their Glossary service: http://labs1.google.com/glossary (Good for translators!)

and their News Service (a robot engine searches all online news sources and posts a collection of them. Interesting collection of media.) http://news.google.com/

Sincerely, Wendy Jonas Imura

You know how we "can't" call 800 numbers in the USA from Japan? Well, I just found out that at least some 800 numbers can be called for free by going through AT&T Direct.

That means calling 005-39-111 or 0066-55-111 and then dialing the 800 number (the 1 in front is no longer necessary). Pretty cool!

I mentioned earlier that I usually order kids and adults clothes from the French company La Redoute, which has very competitive shipping costs. They have now started an English catalogue and English website :
http://www.redoute.com/

Hi:
Can anyone recommend a less than exorbitant way of purchasing a stroller for a 4 year old, either locally in Tokyo(used or new) or via the net? We just moved to Tokyo for a year and decided to leave our double stroller behind due to space constraints. Our 5 year old is doing fine but we need one for our 3+ son. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Other than Tokyowithkids :) for great kids' equipment, try
Metropolis Classifieds
http://classifieds.japantoday.com
Check out the local recycle shops. There is a great one near me (Kashiwa) with lots of strollers incl a double and umbrella strollers. If you live near Hiroo, check out the notice board on the 2nd floor of National Azabu supermarket. If you have access to the Tokyo American Club, they have a notice board in the Annex. Hope you find something soon.
Natalie

Dear Ritu,
There is an ad at the bottom of the Classifieds "for sale" section (at http://www.tokyowithkids.com/discussions/messages/3/5.html) that reads as follows (and which I have never used). It includes internet / catalog shopping with shipping to Japan. So maybe it is something of interest to you?

"By Customer Service on Saturday, February 19, 2000 - 10:35 am: http://www.ebabyasia.com- safe, quality, international baby products delivered to your door, from leading suppliers such as Maclaren, Graco, BabyBjorn, Evenflo, Pali, Tough Traveler, Century, First Years, Safety 1st, Inglesina, Cosatto, Manhattan Baby, and many others. Choose from over 500 products. We have free shipping anywhere in the world. Seven day delivery."

There are also many strollers for sale via the www.yahoo.co.jp auctions (but you need Japanese language capability on your computer to be able to bid I think).

Try to look at http://www.toysrus.co.jp/baby/cat.sp?tabcat=6&cat=10&subcat=50&func=0&start=0&end=0
They offer umbrella stoller from 2499 yen (NEW)

Just a word of warning - I've got one of the Toys R Us very cheap umbrella strollers, and it's fine for my one-year-old - very small and light and great for travelling - but unless you have a tiny four year old I don't think it would be any use. The same goes for most Japanese strollers - you very rarely see a Japanese child in a stroller past the age of two or three, so the ones sold here aren't big or strong enough for larger children. Finding a second-hand foreign one is probably your best bet for an older child.

www.babycherry.com, a Hong Kong based online store selling hampers and gifts for newborn. There are quite a lot of unique stuff that I haven't seen in Tokyo and I like their personalized department - where you can find fun stuff personalised with baby's names. Worthwhile taking a look! Prices are quite reasonable as converted to Japanese yen.

My brother is coming to visit from Canada
and I was just wondering if it's worth
asking him to lug this thing with him here.
It's an Evenflo Mega
Excersaucer.www.amazon.com/gp/
product/customer-reviews/B0000CCOJM/
ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/104-0222893
-0419939?
ie=UTF8&n=165796011&s=baby-
products

Does anyone own one of these and would
you recommend it? It has some pretty
good reviews on Amazon. . .

Does any one know where I can purchase
one or something similar in Japan? Or do
you have a used one that you'd be willing
to sell?